Reading and Viewing Tip

When you are looking at any page on your computer screen, including email, there is an option to hold down the CTRL key and move the scroll wheel on a mouse forward or back to make the size larger or smaller. If you do not use a mouse, you can hold down the CTRL key and click on the + (plus sign) or - (minus sign) to make what you see larger or smaller.

Happy Friday

There is the beauty of infancy, the beauty of youth, the beauty of maturity, and the beauty of age.

It is also true that young, old, and mature all agree on the beauty of a Happy Friday!

Sounds of the Past

Here are a few things we will likely not hear again. A gas station driveway bell, a flash cube flashing from a camera, a rotary dial sound from a phone, a coffee percolator perking, film moving through a film projector, and scratches from a well used 33 and a third or 45 rpm record.

PB&J Vodka

The fragrance is predominately of peanuts, but it is complimented by the fresh fruit aroma of the raspberry. On the tongue, the roles are reversed and the raspberry flavor is more focal, giving it a velvety texture with a hint of vanilla on the side. 

After I read about this I made and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Mmmm!

Magnify Small Print

If you can't read that small text on cans, boxes, or anything and you have your phone or digital camera available, use the macro focus feature to snap a photo. You should be able to zoom in and magnify the text enough to read.

Seven Facts From The Seventies

The World Trade Center twin towers were opened in 1973.
Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and killed in Munich by the Palestinian group Black September.
President Nixon resigned in 1974.
Three Mile Island meltdown happened in 1979 and was the worst accident in U.S. nuclear power plant history.
During the oil crisis in 1979, license plates ending in odd numbers could buy gas on odd number days and even number plates on even days.
Lyme disease is named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where several cases were identified in 1975.
The IRS regulated alcohol, tobacco, and firearms, until the ATF became its own bureau in 1972.

Flutie Flakes

Have you ever heard of these? Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie released his brand of corn flakes cereal in 1998 to raise money for autism awareness in honor of his son, who is autistic. The cereal ended up being a hit, selling more than 3 million boxes. 

He also branched out into other foods, including a fruit snack called Flutie’s Fruities.

What's in a Name, Cheddar Cheese

Cheddar Cheese cheese gets its name from the town of Cheddar in southwest England. Unlike other cheeses named for their town of origin, like Gorgonzola and Parmesan, Cheddar is not covered by a Protected Designation of Origin, which means no matter where it is produced it can still legally be called Cheddar cheese.

Who Was Bartholomew Gosnold

He was a prolific explorer and also gave both Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod their names.

In addition, he pioneered the quickest way to sail from Great Britain to the northeastern seaboard of America. Gosnold recruited John Smith for his Jamestown expedition and a published account of his voyage in 1602 to explore the coast south of Nova Scotia in search of a passage to Asia. He was responsible for popularizing the colonization of New England.

Martha’s Vineyard is named after a daughter of Gosnold who died in infancy. Originally the name was applied to a much smaller island; a “place most pleasant” according to a contemporary source. The larger island was actually called Martin’s Vineyard, after the captain of the ship Gosnold was sailing on, for much of its history. Eventually the feminine name came to stand for the larger island as well. Martha’s Vineyard is the eighth-oldest surviving place name the United States. You can visit the grave of little Martha in the churchyard of Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk, England.

For centuries, codfish have figured prominently in Cape Cod's history and fortunes. Bartholomew caught a ton of cod near this cape and named it in a note in his logbooks about the plentiful "codfyshes" which "pestered" his ship.

Although many explorers and fishermen had sailed New England's waters in the 1500s, Gosnold is credited with the European discovery of New England decades later.